Ivonne Mena King

Partner

Ivonne Mena King is a partner and litigation lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP. Ms. King regularly represents multinational corporations and their executives in white collar criminal cases and internal investigations, especially in connection with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and government contracts. She is a member of the firm's Government Enforcement Defense & Investigations and Latin America Practices and Life Sciences Industry Team. She is also a member of the firm’s Partner Selection Committee.

Ms. King has served as the lead lawyer on over 15 internal investigations spanning 46 countries throughout the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Latin America. As a fluent Spanish speaker, Ms. King has led a team of Spanish-speaking lawyers in six FCPA investigations in Latin America alone, garnering recognition by Chambers USA (2014), which reported that the firm is “[p]articularly noted for its presence in providing counsel on FCPA matters to Latin American clients.” Ms. King represents clients from a wide variety of industries, including pharmaceutical, medical devices, defense, technology, consumer, oil, energy, and entertainment.

With government enforcement matters, the biggest victories are the ones where the company ultimately resolves the inquiry without a published settlement involving fines or penalties. On many matters, with many different agencies, Ms. King has served as lead lawyer and obtained such a result.

Representative Experience

Successfully defending a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company in a 33-country FCPA investigation before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Successfully defending a Fortune 500 defense contractor in a False Claims Act investigation with a strategy that included a legislative solution to revise the complex specialty metals regulations, resulting in the company’s continued production and delivery of weapons without incurring any False Claims Act liability.

Successfully defending a leading defense contractor in FCPA and False Claims Act investigations by U.S. authorities, including the Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Successfully defending a major health care company in a fraud investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Education

Ms. King graduated from Emory University (B.A., political science, cum laude, 1993), with a semester at El Instituto Internacional in Madrid, and Georgetown University Law Center (J.D., 1996), where she was a member of the editorial staff of the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics.

Admissions

Ms. King is admitted to practice in California, Virginia, and before the Fourth Circuit.

Select Publications and Presentations

Ms. King regularly presents at seminars and publishes on a variety of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and investigation-related topics including the following:

"The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act 2011" (Co-Chair and Moderator, hosted by the Practising Law Institute, May 2011)

"Implementing a Compliance Program in the Real World" (Panelist, The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: Coping with Heightened Enforcement Risks conference hosted by the Practising Law Institute, April 16, 2008)